


Louisiana

by Amandjnx



Series: Policewomen!CarolNat [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, Policewomen CarolNat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-15
Updated: 2020-01-23
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:53:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22270594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amandjnx/pseuds/Amandjnx
Summary: After a year of relationship, Carol and Natasha get a news that might change their life a little.
Relationships: Carol Danvers & Monica Rambeau, Carol Danvers & Tony Stark, Carol Danvers/Natasha Romanov, Natasha Romanov & Tony Stark
Series: Policewomen!CarolNat [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1559434
Comments: 3
Kudos: 24





	1. There's a letter for you.

**Author's Note:**

> Little policewomen!CarolNat fic, it follows the events of the main story and the dinner at Bucky's. I recommend you to read them before reading this.
> 
> There'll be 2 chapers after this one, next one Sunday, i hope you'll enjoy it.

It was late on a Saturday morning for Carol Danvers to wake up. Usually, every penultimate day of the week she had a session with her coach, Minnerva, at the gym but the day before the woman had called Carol to cancel it. The blonde decided afterwards that she would take the day to relax, for once. She had planned to wake up around 10 o'clock in the morning and then she would wait and see what she would be willing to do. And that's exactly what happened when she opened her eyes and looked at her phone, as well as two text messages she saw what time it was, 9.42am. She yawned and rolled on the bed, knowing that she wouldn't bother a certain red haired woman, the latter went for a jogging earlier in the morning.

Carol was proud of Natasha's willpower to do exercises again and supported her every time she went out for a run in Central Park, often going with her. It had been hard for the redhead to get back to physical training after she got shot, it took her almost a year, the first time she went with Carol and met Minnerva personally, but now that her therapy was over she had the time to take it seriously and even thought about signing up at the gym with Carol.

Carol knew her girlfriend's habits and so knew she would be back in a few minutes. She woke up at 8, left at 8.30 and usually ran for almost an hour, she then would go at their favourite café and take her classic black coffee with half a sugar and would bring to Carol her mocaccino. She waited impatiently for the woman of her life to come back home, dying for a hug as she was rolling and wrapping herself in the bed sheets. Reaching the other side of the bed, she hit in a fluffy ball of fur and a meow followed, "Oh sorry, Goosey." the blonde whispered as she rubbed the cat's head gently.

The couple had adopted two kittens a few weeks before, one striped light and dark orange with green eyes named Goose and the other totally black with hazel eyes named Liho. They found them in a pet shop and, not able to agree on which one was the cutest, decided to take both of them. Natasha wanted Liho because of her eyes that matched Carol's and she remembered her of a cat she had when she was younger, back in Russia. Carol just had been taken with the orange furred animal as she purred the second Carol held her in her arm. Natasha, softened by Carol's look at the kitten, agreed to take them both, she just wanted to see her girlfriend happy. It had made Carol laugh that the cat they preferred had the other eyes, even though Natasha's were darker and somehow brighter than Goose's.

"Goose, where's your sister, huh? Waiting for her mommy to come back home?" She said with a playful voice as she scratched the kitten's belly.

"Hey, babe, I'm home," Carol heard the voice of her girlfriend coming from the living room. She watched the door, waiting for it to be opened by Natasha, when she did, a black cat entered first, quickly followed by her owner.

Natasha was wearing a sports bra, a pair of Nike running shoes and running pants, one that was perfectly highlighting Natasha's curves Carol had so much difficulty to get her eyes off. Around her neck, she had one of Carol's rock band t-shirt she was wearing when she left, before she probably took it off, too hot to need it. The shirt was wiping off the bead of sweat that were running down her temple and jaw.

"I checked the mailbox," she said from the en-suite bathroom, refreshing her face with water, "there's a letter for you." Intrigued, Carol sat up on the bed, resting her back against the pillows and waited for Natasha to come back in their bedroom, "It's from Louisiana." The redhead said, a concerned look on her face as she walked to the bed and handed both Carol's order at the café and the letter. She sat down next to her, giving her girlfriend a quick kiss. Carol looked at the envelope and swallowed, not quite sure what to expect, she glanced up to meet her favourite green eyes, "I think I'm kinda scared to open it." she admitted.

Natasha understood, Louisiana was a big trigger to Carol and she didn't want to see her in the same state she had been when she told Nat the air force story. Carol therapy was, opposite to Natasha's, not done and the redhead feared that, whatever was in this envelope, wouldn't help her feeling better. She took the letter from Carol's hand and look at it closely, "I could read it for you, in case it's something you're not ready to read yet."

The blonde hesitated. She was very grateful to have a woman like Natasha by her side and all the support she brought her. She knew she could, thanks to the presence of the redhead, read it without having a break down but also, her offer was rather attractive, that way, she would be sure she would be safe to read it. After a few more seconds, she chose the first option, wanting to face whatever the letter was saying.

"Thanks, Natalia, really, but I think I should do it on my own." Natasha gave her the envelope back, "You want me to leave or-"

"No, please, stay. I need you for this."

Natasha whispered an 'okay' and sat properly next to Carol, a thumb tracing lines on her thigh. Carol took a deep breath and shredded the top of the envelope to discover its contents. Her eyes flew around the first few sentences until they locked with a familiar name.

  


_"Miss Danvers,_

  


_Our organisation knows it took a long time but as promised when you decided to give up any attempt to get the custody of Monica Rambeau you are now able to visit her in her foster family, in New Orleans, LA, once a month for a weekend. The family also agreed to let you have her for two weeks during the summer holidays and for Christmas once every two years."_

  


The blonde didn't manage to finish reading the letter, her eyes full of tears with emotion. Natasha, who was also reading, noticed the seal of the US government, meaning it was apart of the compensation Carol had from the accident. She remembered the blonde telling her she couldn't get the custody of Monica but she didn't know orphanage was still fighting against the state of Louisiana and the government to get her visits right. Lower on the paper, she saw a signature she knew very well, "Of course he did this." Carol wasn't even paying attention to what she said until the redhead showed her the writing, "That's Pepper's signature and that's Stark Industry's lawyer seal. Tony did this."

The blonde faced her partner in disbelief, pouting, "He- how does he know?" she finally stuttered.

"I don't know. I didn't tell him, that's for sure. Maybe he had your non-redacted files."

Carol couldn't believe what was happening, she was finally able to see her niece again. She sniffed as the tears fell down her cheeks and wiped them, looking at Natasha with happiness, "It's been two years, I can see her again." She said, a bit louder than a whisper and rested her head on Nat's shoulder. The redhead gave her a kiss on the forehead before taking the letter in her hand, "Hey, look, your first visit is next week!"

  


_"You'll have to visit on the second weekend of the month and, if you can't, have to warn the family at least 3 days before the Saturday. It starts this month, September."_

  


It was the fifth of September, the first weekend of the month. In seven days, Carol would see Monica again. She giggled at the thought of the little girl running toward her, jumping into her arms. She wasn't a child any more, she was twelve years old and must have changed. Suddenly Carol felt her stomach ache, what if the girl wasn't thrilled to see her, what if Tony used his money for nothing.

"Hey, what's that face C?" Natasha, who, of course, noticed the change in her girlfriend's features, asked, gently stroking the blonde hair with her hand.

"Imagine she doesn't want to see me."

"Baby, I don't think Tony would have done that if your niece disagreed. I'm sure he went himself to Louisiana to ask her if she wanted to see her aunt again." She kissed Carol's temple who was, still, not fully convinced, "you know what, I'm calling Tony now, he'll explain everything."

Carol watched her partner standing up and going to the living room. She came back a minute later with Liho cosily lying into Natasha's arm and her phone in her hand. She sat cross legged on the bed, opposite to Carol and gave her the phone, too much occupied cuddling the cat to be able to call her best friend. Carol unlocked the phone with her fingerprint and searched for Tony's number in Nat's contact list, "Why is Tony's contact name _'The Captain'_ " Natasha looked at her shrugged, "I had to recognize his number to figure out it was him." the blonde added with a giggle.

"I guess he change it when I gave him my phone the other time when his was dead."

Carol shook her head, laughing, and press her pointing finger on the screen. She put on the speaker-phone and waited impatiently for the man to answer.

  


_"'Tsup red?"_

  


"Hey Tony, it's Carol,"

  


"And Nat," she said, leaning closer to the phone as she let the kitten out of her grip, "we have something to ask you."

  


_"Okay, shoot."_

  


The two women stared at each other for a few, neither one of them sure what to say exactly, "How did you know for my niece?"

  


_"Wait, you got the visit rights? That's awesome. Hey, Pep, they got it."_ He shouted in the phone and the couple could hear Pepper answering him.

  


"Tony, can you explain, please. We're a little confused over here." Natasha asked firmly.

  


_"Well, when I went to the bar, a long time back, and ran into Carol, we talked a lot and, you didn't precisely say you had a niece but you did say you missed Louisiana and I thought there was a reason so I did my research and found Monica and the custody right you gave up."_

  


Carol was amazed by Tony's determination to find Monica, it must have been hard to go through all the secrecy of the case but he still managed to find her.

  


_"After that I found out that the government was behind the case so I contacted a friend of mine and we appealed the decision, built a file in your favour and waited for the judge to give his decision. "_

  


"How have you done that without Carol being involved?"

  


_"She was, she just didn't know. All we needed was the testimony of someone close, me, to show she really wanted to see her niece and the testimony of Monica, saying the same about Carol."_

  


"Have you seen her?" Carol asked hopelessly, dying to get any news about the girl.

  


_"I didn't, Pepper did. I couldn't be the one testifying for you and getting hers. That's why there's Pepper's signature on the document, isn't it?"_

  


"You can't imagine how much I love you right now, Tony." Natasha looked up at Carol, faking jealousy but rubbed the ex air force pilot's shoulder to comfort her.

  


_"Yeah, I guess you owe me dinner, Danvers."_

  


"Honestly, whatever you want, Stark."

  


_"Seriously, you owe me nothing, it was a pleasure to do that for a friend. By the way, I can give you two your Monday free if you want to organi_ _s_ _e everything, you know, with the cats and_ _air planes_ _tickets."_

  


"That would be great, thanks Tony!"

  


_"Alright, I'll see you on Tuesday then, bye."_

  


The second the call was hung up Carol threw herself into Nat's arms, scaring both cats that were sleeping on the bed. The redhead laid down as the weight of Carol hit her body, a sound of surprised coming out her throat when her back landed on the mattress. She held tight around Carol's waist and heard her giggles next to her ear. When she pulled out, the blonde had a grin on her face and it made Natasha smile, seeing Carol happy was definitely one of the best things in the world and she'd never be fed up with it. Carol sat up, straddling Natasha's hips and looked at her lover with sparkles in her gaze, "I can't wait for you to meet her, she'll love you, I know it!"

At the words, Natasha's features softened and she smiled even more, she was wondering if Carol would want her to come with her. She hoped, she wished the blonde would ask her to come, Monica was a big part of her life and Natasha wanted to meet the girl and learn more about her girlfriend.

Carol reached out Natasha's face and brought her close to hers, the redhead now seated on the mattress, both her arms supporting her weight, "I can't wait to meet her." she whispered against Carol's lips and the second she stopped talking the blonde captured her mouth, softly kissing Nat as her hands slid in the red locks, pressing their lips harder. The gesture made Nat smile into the kiss and Carol broke apart, just to see the face of her girlfriend, full of happiness, it was enlightening her days.

"We should begin to schedule everything. Who's gonna take care of Goose and Liho?"

"I'm sure Wanda will be okay to do it. In the meantime, I have a better idea for us to spend our day." Natasha smirked, her eyes full of mischief and Carol smirked back, "An idea, huh? Well, maybe if you go take a shower I'll listen to your idea."

"We can do it while in the shower, darling, I'm multitasking." she winked and stood up, carrying Carol in her arms. The blonde yelped and quickly wrapped her legs around Natasha's waist, giggling as the redhead led them to the bathroom.


	2. AUNTIE CAROL!

"Hey C, are you nervous?"

"I guess I am a little, yeah. It's been such a long since the last time I saw her, I don't know what to expect."

"I'm sure it's gonna be fine, babe."

They were walking down the streets towards Monica's new home, their fingers intertwined under the sun of New Orleans. It felt special for Carol to be back in this city, she had spent five years of her life there and had many memories, mostly good ones. They passed by a bar and a precise souvenir came into her mind, she stopped her pace and looked through the window, remembering her and Maria singing along to their favourite song in this karaoke bar, "We used to come here after work, almost every week. She was a really good singer." Sadness grew on Carol's face and Natasha immediately tried to comfort her, giving a gentle squeeze to her hand. The blonde responded with a weak smile and a kiss on Nat's temple, fully aware that the redhead was worrying for her, "I'm fine, Nat."

"I know, I just wanted to be sure. You know I'm here whatever you need, right?" She asked and the blonde almost cut her off, her free hand reaching her jaw and pressed her lips softly on Natasha's. As they parted, Carol replied quietly, "I know, baby and I'm very grateful for that." Natasha smiled and they went back to walk to Monica's house.

The address wasn't far from her former house, Maria's house, so Monica didn't have to go to another school. Carol had learnt by her ex chief at the air force that Maria's parents had bought her house and were now living in it. He didn't have more informations and Carol certainly didn't want to hear from him, she still held him responsible for her best friend's death.

When they arrived at the right place, Carol abruptly stopped walking and completely froze at the sight of the house. The fact that she would be seeing her niece in a few minutes totally messed up her brain, her breathing speeded up and there was tears forming in her eyes.

"Hey, C, breathe. I'm here, everything will be fine." Natasha was standing in front of her partner, both her hands cupping her face, forcing the blonde to look into her eyes. When she finally did, she immediately calmed down, soothed by the soft smile on Natasha's face and her gentle touch on her cheekbones.

"You okay to go?" The redhead asked whispering and Carol nodded. After a quick kiss they walked towards the front door and rang the bell.

The wait felt like it would never end, the only thing they could do was standing there until someone opened the door. Carol's brain wasn't even paying attention to everything else that was going on around her, she was so focused on the door that she didn't hear the few audible sound that were coming from inside the house nor was feeling the pat on her shoulder from Natasha. Yet, there was hustle and bustle in the house and Natasha even heard the name of the young girl they were visiting, "Monica, that must be for you!" After that, she heard loud footsteps and suddenly the door was wide opened and a teenager came out of it, jumping on the blonde, "AUNTIE CAROL!" The girl yelled as she was hanging on Carol's neck. Carol, at the second she saw her niece, immediately held tight around the small body, taking a step back at the speed she had rushed on her.

"Monica I missed you so much."

"Me too!"

There was giggles coming from both of them and Natasha watched the whole scene, a satisfied smile on her face. When they finally broke the hug, Carol's eyes fell into Natasha's and she reached her hand to pull her closer, "Hey, Monica, this is my girlfriend, Natasha."

"Hey!" Natasha said shyly, waiting for the girl to say something to her. Instead, she looked at Carol with a smirk and laughed, "You finally listened mom's advice and got yourself a girlfriend, huh?"

Carol let out an amused gasp and wrapped her arm around Natasha's waist, "Yep, best decision of my life." Natasha tilted her head, her eyes sparkling and mouthed _I love you_ to the blonde discreetly.

"Okay, come on in, I gotta show you my room!" The girl ordered, taking Carol by the hand and pulling her inside the house. She followed her upstairs and saw in the corner of her eyes that Natasha was heading to what was surely the living room to greet the owners of the house.

Carol stepped into the room and suddenly felt like she had travelled back in time, like she was four years earlier in her home with Maria. The young girl had decorated the bedroom with all the things she had kept from there, old pictures of herself, her mother and Carol during Christmas when she was still a baby, flags of the air force, Maria's uniform and even her dog tags that Carol had recovered on the crash site. All the memories came back as one and she couldn't hold the tears in her eyes from their inevitable fall. Monica was running all over the room, showing her stuff and all Carol was capable of was watching her with a smile, tears of joy streaming down her cheeks, motionless in the middle of the room.

She heard footsteps climbing up the stairs and a few seconds later a pair of arms were wrapped around her waist and she felt a slow and cold breathing on her skin, making her whole body tingling.  
  
"Hey! You okay?" She heard from her favourite raspy voice. Natasha's tone was so soft that Carol had to fight the urge to tease her about it. In others circumstances, she would have, but now, she was too emotional to talk, she simply hummed and the other woman made her know she caught the sound by a kiss on the back of her neck, just behind her ear.  
  
"Whenever you want her foster parents would like to talk to you."  
  
"Okay." she whispered, not quite sure it was loud enough to pass over Monica's voice but then she felt Natasha's grip loosen around her and the redhead had left the room.  
  
The blonde finally managed to move and sat down at the edge of the bed, "Eh, Lieutenant Trouble," she spoke up, getting the young girl's attention, "come here." Carol added, her arms opened and ready to welcome Monica for a hug. She threw herself into the arms again, making the both of them fell onto the bed, the girl giggling in the embrace.  
  
"You know I've missed you, right?" Monica nodded against Carol's chest, "I missed you too."

Letting go of Monica, the blonde took a long breath before speaking, "I should go downstairs to see your parents, it's kinda impolite of me to just walk in like that."

"It's okay, they don't mind, don't worry, the girl assured, "but yeah, you definitely should go, they want to talk to you since the first day I met them. I might have tell them everything about you, sorry!"

"No pressure at all!"

  
  


  
Carol stepped inside the dining room and found Natasha laughing with two people, a cup of tea in hands.

"Hi, Ms. Danvers," the man said. He was standing up, leaned against a wall and Carol could tell he was around her height, "I'm Gerald and this is my wife Charlotte."  
  
"Hi. You can call me Carol." She shook their hands and sat down next to Nat. He went to the kitchen and came back with a cup full of tea, "Natasha told me you'd want some so, there it is."  
  
"Oh, thanks!" Carol looked at Natasha who was smiling and Carol's thankful gaze made her smile even more, "We talked a bit with Natasha and she said you had an hotel room for the weekend." the woman, Charlotte, spoke up.  
  
"Yeah, just for tonight actually, we booked the plane tickets late, we arrived this morning and we have to be back to work Monday." Carol explained.  
  
"We didn't have quite the time to organise everything, we got the letter last Saturday, we did our best but those were the only planes we could afford, we leave tomorrow at 2pm." Natasha specified.  
"For the next times, if you want, we have a guest room you two could use. Like that you could arrive late the Friday night and leave whenever you want the Sunday."  
  
Carol and Natasha exchanged a look to consult what the other thought, "If that's fine with you it would be really helpful, yeah, thank you."  
  
"Of course, we want Monica to be able to see you as much as possible. She talked so much about you and, until we got this call from your friend, we had no idea you didn't know where she was. If we had known, we would have contacted you, Carol."  
  
"You really didn't know? Damn I hate the government." As she said that, Natasha grabbed her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. The redhead was still worried that it was too early for Carol to face her memories, the blonde already had enough with the tour Monica gave her, mentioning the government and all the bad things it brought out of Carol's mind was too much, too soon.  
  
She was about to change the subject when she heard a voice behind her, "G can they stay for dinner?" The voice of Monica came from the stairs, she ran down and walked towards Carol, "Please, G, C, they have to try your _jambalaya_!"  
  
"Yes, of course, if you want to."

"That would be great, yeah."

The couple nodded and left the dining room to the kitchen, leaving Carol and Natasha alone with Monica.

"So, you call them G and C?" Carol asked, a bit surprised the young girl didn't use more parental names. She thought, and kind of feared, that she would call them _mom_ and _dad_. She especially feared to hear the word _mom_ coming from her mouth, in Carol's mind this word was for Maria and Maria only.

"Yeah, since the first day I met them."

"You know, that's funny because I call Carol "C" too." Natasha said playing with Monica's curly hair. The girl looked at Natasha with a grin and jumped to sit on her lap, "Guess we are two geniuses using the best nicknames." she said as she raised her hand and Natasha gave her a high five, "We certainly are." the red had agreed and the three of them laughed.

Carol was so happy Monica liked Natasha, she was anxious about that at first, she didn't know what she would have done if the little girl had not liked her. Carol had a hard time believing this would be her life now, that she would have moments like that every month, with her niece and the woman she loved.

Charlotte came back to the dining room with small pieces of paper in her hands, after a few hesitations, she handed them to Carol and said shyly, "I don't know if you heard about that but the base you used to work at has been turned into an aviation museum, there's not much about the air force but I thought it might be nice for the three of you to go take a look at it. I bought tickets for you!"

"Charlotte you shouldn't ha-"

The woman cut her off, "No, it's my pleasure, really, Monica wanted to go there for months and I never found the time to go with her. You have surely more things to teach her there than me anyway." Monica hugged her foster mom from the side, the girl had no idea she had planned this.

Seeing Carol hesitation, Natasha took the tickets and stood up, giving Charlotte a quick thanking hug, "Guess we should get going." she said, offering her hand to Carol. The blonde looked at it and smiled, realising it would be nice to have some time with only Natasha and Monica around, she had dreamt of it and now it was real. She took the redhead's hand and they went for the front door.

"You can take my car if you want, the red one." Carol heard Charlotte's voice coming from the room they just left, looked over her shoulder and saw the woman pointing at a chest of drawers in the doorway.

"Thanks!" she said loudly enough for the other woman to hear her as she took the keys of the car.

Getting themselves sat in the car, Monica couldn't stop talking about all the things she heard about the museum and said she _needed_ to visit it, her future depending on it apparently. Both Carol and Natasha didn't understand what she meant by that but supposed they would discover it soon enough. Natasha entered the address that was written on the tickets and started the engine. During the ride, the redhead and Monica exchanged countless amount of anecdote and funny stories about Carol, the latter watching them, half offended by the facts they were revealing to one another, half happy her two favourite humans one the planet got along so well.

The second they were parked Monica was out of the car and already running to the museum entrance. Carol quickly followed her, she didn't want to lose the girl in the crowd, "Lieutenant Trouble, you must have a ticket to get in there and I'm not the one who have them!"

"Shit!" She heard the teenager say and immediately looked at her with surprise, "What's that, huh?"

"Sorry." she shrugged and change the subject, "Run Nat, we gotta see everything in here!" she shouted at the redhead who was a few steps behind her and Carol.

"Yeah, I'm here, let's go!" the redhead quickened her pace and joined them, her hand finding Carol's instinctively.

When they got inside, Monica started running, again, showing the signs to the couple, saying she wanted to see this and that. The policewomen simply looked at her, waiting for the young teenager to make a choice to where they should go first. Suddenly, she settled her eyes on one particular sign, forgot all the others she was excited about a dozen of seconds ago and grabbed Carol's free hand, leading both her and the redhead to the section she wanted to see.

Of course, she had chose the air force section and when Carol realised what it was, her heart started beating faster, the pictures and old piece of planes she used to pilot reminding her some hurtful memorises. The blonde tried to keep her calm as much as possible, not wanting to ruin Monica's afternoon, and whispered a few words in Natasha's ear, "I'm not sure I can do it."

The redhead, who had understood a few second after Carol where they were, leaned closer, her right hand reaching the blonde's cheek, "You got this baby, I know you do." The comforting words and the gentle touch on her face gave Carol the strength she was looking for. After a deep breath and a thankful glance at the emerald eyes, she kept on walking and analysed what was exposed.

There was engine of old planes, used during World War II and more recent ones, the last one being from the former military base the museum has been built on.

At the sight of it, Carol chuckled, "I piloted planes with this kind of engine," she stepped closer to read the description that was writing on a tiny sign, "I miss flying sometimes." she added in a whisper. Natasha heard Carol last sentence but decided not to comment, it was already hard for her to be here, she did want to add weight on her shoulders with some questions she could ask her girlfriend another day.

"Yep, I wanna do that someday."

Not sure she had heard well Carol looked down and asked, a brow curved, "Excuse me, what did you say?"

Natasha could see the disaster coming and was already prepared to calm Carol.

"I said I wanted to do that someday, I wanna become an air force pilot!" The girl repeated herself proudly. Carol's featured turned from lost to irritated in a matter of hundredth of a second, she couldn't believe Monica dared to say that after what happened to her mother.

"You've got to be kidding me." she said angrily, as if she was talking to one of her awful misogynist colleague, those she can't even pretend to like.

"Carol, don't!"

Natasha's words got lost in the air, the blonde definitely not willing to listen. The girl, not understanding what she said wrong, kept on explaining her choice, "Of course I'm serious, I want to do like you and mom did, piloting planes and serving my country."

"Do I have to remind you what happened to your mom?"

"Carol, what the fuck," this time, Natasha did not let the ex pilot carry on, she reached her head with both her hands and abruptly made her look at her, "how dare you say something like that to her, have you lost your mind, she's still a kid, for God's sake!"

Natasha was frowning, and she never frown at Carol, even when she is insanely upset at her. The blonde realising the seriousness of her words and tried to find the girl, in vain.

"Nat, she's gone!"

"Yes, I know that b-" The redhead answered fast, not getting that Carol was talking about her niece not about Maria.

"No, I meant Monica, I can't see her anywhere."

"Oh, shit!"

"I'm such an idiot, what have I done." Carol was panicking, she had messed up, again, with another member of the Rambeau family and she was the only one to blame this time.

Natasha brought her hands back on Carol's cheek, knowing it relaxed her to feel the redhead's skin on hers, "C, look at me, we're gonna split up and we're going to find her, okay?" Carol nodded and Natasha pointed at a direction, "You go this way, I'll go back there, we call each other the second we got eyes on her!"

"Okay!"

They did as planned and split. Natasha went to the entry of the air force section, in case the girl would leave and Carol followed the arrows that were showing the visit direction. She turned in the air force section for fifteen minutes before she realised she had missed a door that led to the toilet. She knew the girl would be hiding in there and immediately sent a text to Natasha.

She opened the door and a woman and who was probably her daughter left the room. As she entered, she saw that all the toilets were empty, all the doors opened except for one. She stood in front of it for a few seconds, took a deep breath and knocked, "Hey, Monica, it's me, can you open the door please?" she said, as softly as possible.

"Go away, I don't wanna talk to you!" the girl snapped and Carol did her best not to take it badly, she knew she had messed up and deserved to be treated like that.

At the same time, Natasha entered, a concerned look on her face as she heard the teenager yelling. Carol glanced at the door to tell the redhead Monica was inside and the older detective nodded, stepping closer to the door, "Hey, sweetie, it's Natasha, could you please open the door, your aunt would like to apologise in person."

No sound came out from the toilet for the next ten seconds and Carol felt like she was going to explode, "Monica, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you, I just-" she was doing her best to find her words but it was hard to explain to a twelve-years-old why she got upset like this without telling her about the crash, the real crash, not the _‘accident’_ the air force and the government had made up to cover up their mistakes.

"Listen, I know you always wanted to do the same job as Maria and me and I would totally support that if I didn’t know it was dangerous." she looked at Natasha who made a sign, telling to carry on, "But I know it is and even if I have no right to interfere with your career choices I'd rather see you do another job than pilot at the air force." almost non-perceptible footsteps hit Carol's eardrums followed by the sound of the bolt being unlocked. The blonde showed Natasha the door, telling her to go inside. The redhead stepped in and saw the girl seated on the ground with her knees up to her chin. Natasha kneeled in front of Monica to be at her level and stroke her hand gently in the curly hair.

"I know it's dangerous but I want to serve my country!" she said calmly, looking up at Natasha, pursing her lips not to smile at the supportive figure and avoiding eye contact with Carol, who was standing behind her girlfriend.

"You can do that else where, your aunt and I are serving our country in the police, I guess it sounds less attractive than being a pilot but I'm sure you can find a career that interests you and-"

Carol cut Natasha off as she finally came to realisation that the girl should be able to do any job she wanted to and that she had nothing to say about it, "The truth is, if you really want to become an air force pilot, you should do it."

"Really?"

"Yeah! My parents were not happy either when I told them I joined the air force but I did it anyway, that was what I wanted. And I'm not even your parent, I have nothing else to do than support you in your choices."

"Do you thing mom would have liked the idea?"

"Duh, she would be so proud of you Monica!"

"Thanks, Auntie Carol!" Monica replied softly. She stood up and gave Carol a hug, "Now can we visit the rest of the museum? We had enough drama for today!"

Carol sigh, amused, "I guess we should if we don't want to be late for dinner!"


	3. I'd wait forever if I have to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter of this short story but don't worry, Carol and Natasha will be back for some new advantures soon..

The couple spent the evening at the house, talking with Monica and her foster parents about nothing and everything, and went back to their hotel around 1 am. Gerald proposed to drive them to the airport the next day and they graciously accepted, it would give Carol a bit more time with Monica, considering that the child didn't even asked to come with him, she simply stated she would be in the car.

They decided to walk on their way back to the hotel, just like they did to get there, the house being only twenty-five minutes away. Carol was smiling from ear to ear and she was certain nothing could make it fade away. She had the love, the friends, the job and her niece back, the only thing she missed was Maria but she knew she wouldn't have all the above if she was still alive and the both of them still in the air force. She had finally put things into perspective towards Maria's death, it took her a while to accept that it was not her fault but she still couldn't see any good things from it until now, she could, she did.

They didn't talk much, both their minds still in the clouds from the memories of the afternoon and evening. Natasha hadn't imagined meeting Monica would have such an impact on her, she had thought she would have been a moral support for Carol, just like she did before they entered the house but she definitely didn't know she would bond that easily with the young girl.

As they approached the hotel, Carol started thinking, a lot, maybe too much. She was thinking about how lucky she was, maybe too lucky, and a thought crossed her mind, a thought she couldn't get a rid of. Suddenly her smile faded, she slowed her pace and let go of Natasha's arm. The redhead took a few more steps before realising Carol wasn't following her any more. She turned and watched Carol, looking down at the pavement, her hands on her waist, and waited for her to say what she was thinking.

_What if I don't need all of this to be happy._

After a minute, Carol had still not say a thing and was biting her lower lips as she thought.

_Tony should have consulted me._

Natasha started to worry at the sight of Carol, still in the same position, her foot beating a fast rhythm on the ground. The redhead took a step forward, carefully approaching her girlfriend and raised her hand to Carol's cheek, getting the other girl's attention, "Hey, baby, what is it?"

Natasha gaze was full of kindness and support and Carol finally felt like she could talk to her, but then she realised they were standing in front of their hotel and pulled Natasha inside without a word.

The second they entered the room Natasha was leading the ex pilot to the bed and they sat on the edge of it. She took a hold of Carol's hand and kissed her temple. Carol closed her eyes at the feeling of Natasha's warm lips of on her skin and moved closer, resting her head on Nat's shoulder. "Carol, please, tell me what's going on, I can't read your mind, remember?" Carol giggled, Natasha had always the right words to make her laugh, even in the worst situations.

"I uh.. I think maybe seeing Monica every month is too much."

Natasha raised an eyebrow, the blonde had told her partner that was all she had ever wanted since she left Louisiana, even though she didn't really expressed it, "What do you mean, don't you want to see her?"

Carol sighed, trying to find the right way to explain herself. She sat up, crossing her legs on the bed and Natasha did the same so they were face to face. After a deep breath, Carol spoke up, "I thought I wanted to see her, like as much as possible but, the truth is, I don't really need it. I managed to live my life without her for almost three years and I can say that I did well without her, I was happy before we got this letter."

She stopped herself for a dozen of seconds, studying Natasha's reaction, "I want to see her but not that much. First of all, it would cost a lot in plane tickets and," she raised up a finger to shush Natasha as she saw her about to protest about the argument the blonde gave, "I know if we organise everything in advance it wouldn't be that expensive but you know us, we always do things last minute." Natasha rose her arms in defeat.

"And I thought about it, I don't think the situation is healthy for me. Seeing her that much, after all I went through." Carol was looking down, playing with Natasha's fingers. It had always made the redhead smile, her girlfriend's fingertips tickling her skin, it was such a childish gesture but also so soft and adorable, it was hard for Nat to focus on what Carol was saying even if she wanted to know what was going on in her brain.

"I love her, that's a fact, but our lives changed, she has these wonderful parents now and I, well, I met the love of my life in a totally different city." Those words caught Natasha off guard, she knew Carol loved her, the blonde had told her plenty of times that she was the most important person of her life, that she loved her more than anyone but she never said Natasha was _the love of her life_ before. She glanced away from their fingers and locked her gaze with the hazelnut eyes, in shock of what she just heard.

Carol kept talking with the same serious look on her face, matching the stare of the dark green eyes, "This would just pull me back to my old life and I don't want that, I've moved on, with you Natalia, and I want something that'll be ours, not something that was mine and that I share with you."

Natasha was even more surprised by this last sentence, "Carol Danvers, are you saying you want a child with me?"

"I- I mean, yes, of course I want to, somedays." The blonde stuttered, that was not exactly what she meant by _something that'll be ours_ but she definitely wanted to have kids with Natasha. She had thought about it more than once, she had always wanted kids and she knew Natasha was _the_ person with who she wanted to have them but she didn't wanted them yet.

The redhead was stunned by Carol's last words and didn't manage to make an answer coming out of her mouth, she stood gaping in front of her girlfriend who was starting to worry she had said something wrong, "Nat, say something, please."

Carol's voice broke the spell Natasha was under and she finally found a way to reply, "Marry me."

Carol chuckled at first, thinking the redhead was joking but when she saw her face she realised she wasn't, "Wait are you being serious right now?"

"I don't know, do you want me to?"

"I don't think I'm ready for that," She knew responding like that would sound bad and hurt the redhead so she immediately reached Nat's hands to make her keep the eye contact, "I love you, Natalia, I'll never stop loving you but marriage is something I'm kinda afraid of. Remember when we talked about it at Bucky's," Natasha nodded, "well, after that I started thinking, a lot, and the word became more and more scary every time I thought about it. Now when I hear marriage the next thing that comes to my mind is divorce and until it changes I think it's better if we don't, uh, think about it. I meant what I said back there though, I hope we'll be more than girlfriends after four years of relationship." Natasha gaze fell down as she nodded, obviously saddened by Carol's reply but she understood, she used to fear this word as well.

"Guess I'll have to wait for you to propose then." she said, not even trying to hide disappointment.

"I'm sorry baby."

Natasha realised it wasn't fair of her to blame Carol for that, they had been dating for only a year, they had time to think about marriage, "No no, I totally get it. This could have been me a few weeks ago. I realised recently, after that same talk at Bucky's actually, that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you and with all the things that you just said I thought it was the right time." Carol, seeing the sorrow in Natasha's eyes, lied down on the bed and pulled the redhead towards her, "Come here baby." Natasha lied down as well, resting her head on Carol's chest and their legs intertwined naturally. The blonde was stroking a hand in the red locks while she was tracing lines on Nat's arm with her other hand.

"I've been talking about this, with my therapist," Carol admitted and Natasha hummed in response, "I didn't tell you because I didn't know what were your thoughts about the subject, maybe I should have." Natasha caught the guilt in Carol's tone, she knew the blonde meant no harm by telling the truth, she couldn't accept Natasha's proposal if she wasn't ready. The older woman change position, she lied on her belly, her elbows pressed against the mattress, and looked down into Carol's eyes.

"Carol, it's fine." A hand came up to cup Natasha's jaw, "Really?" the blonde asked shyly, feeling tears threatening to escape the corner of her eye. Natasha nodded and smiled, a hand reaching Carol's cheek, "Yeah," she whispered, "I'd wait forever if I have to. And if you're never ready, I don't care, I just want to be with you, married or not."

Her smile grew even bigger, "You're the love of my life, Carol Danvers."

Carol giggled, "You're the love of my life, Natalia Romanova." Her hand slid to the back of Natasha's neck and she pulled her gently towards her and stopped when their mouths were only an inch away and let Natasha press her lips on hers.

After a few seconds the redhead pulled back, "So, what do you wanna do? About Monica?"

"Earlier I thought that we could see her every two months the years she won't be with us for Christmas and four times a year the years she will, something like that."

Natasha smirked, Carol really thought this through on there way back to the hotel, "If she and her foster parents are okay with it, and if you are, then it's okay for me." Natasha stated, putting an emphasis on the word _you_ and kissed softly Carol's cheek.

The blonde simply nodded and watched Natasha standing up from the bed and taking off her clothes, "We should get some sleep." the redhead said as she slid under the bed sheets and Carol followed her, wrapping her arms around Natasha's waist, " 'night Natalia."

Carol didn't eat much the next morning for breakfast, she was anxious about how Monica would react to her proposition. She didn't want the girl to think Carol didn't love her any more and was already preparing the whole speech in her head to make sure she would understand exactly what she was saying.

"Hey, you better eat something if you don't wanna starve to death in the plane." Natasha said as she handed Carol an apple. Seeing the blonde wasn't listening, the redhead sat on her lap and put the apple right in her eyesight, "Eat, now."

Carol took the fruit, threw it on the table and smirked. The redhead, well aware that she needed to distract her girlfriend from overthinking her upcoming talk with Monica, decided to play a little with the blonde. Her mission, turning Carol on, "I thought being a brat was my job!"

"Don't belittle yourself Nat, you can be a fucking good top when you want to." Carol joked, but definitely implying she wanted Natasha to top her right now.

The ex pilot's response was exactly what Natasha expected it would be and she carried on, "Huh-uh, maybe you're right but we don't have time for this," she said with a flirty tone, teasing the blonde as she moved closer and bite her lower lips, knowing how much Carol loved when she did that, "I gotta get dressed and you gotta take a shower and eat the goddamn apple." she added in a whisper, grabbing the fruit that had rolled on the table and put it in front of Carol's face again but this time, after a quick glance at the emerald eyes, the blonde bite the apple, provoking the redhead with a smile. She swallowed and leaned towards Natasha, "I remember you saying you were multitasking." she said quietly, her lips brushing Natasha's ear.

Natasha chuckled and stood up, the apple still in her hand, "Did I? Maybe if you eat this I'll remember." As she said _this_ she threw the apple in Carol's direction and the blonde caught it, stood up from her chair and walked her way to the en-suite bathroom of their hotel room, eating the apple, "If I shower and eat at the same time we'd have some free time before leaving!" She said, her mouth full, leaning against the door frame.

Natasha walked towards her and pushed her gently inside the room, her shit-eating smirk turning Carol even more on, "You'd need another shower after what I want to do to you." The blonde groaned as she saw the door being closed in front of her and finally accepted she wouldn't have sex this morning.

They left the hotel and looked for a light grey Chevrolet, the car they saw the day before in front of the house. Natasha settled her sight on it first and saw a young girl with dark curly hair standing next to it. She took Carol's hand in hers and led the way to their ride. Natasha sat on the passenger seat beside Gerald and Carol and Monica went to sit on the back seats.

The ride to the airport was only 15 minutes long, meaning Carol had to hurry to explain everything but she hesitated. Seeing Carol's distress, Natasha introduced the subject smoothly, "Hey, so, we've been talking when we walked back to our hotel and there's something we need to discuss with you two."

Carol, seated behind Gerald, threw a non-thankful glare at Natasha and pouted as she saw Monica impatient to know what she was about to say, "Yeah, uh... I don't want you to take it badly, okay? Just, please, let me say all I have to say."

Both Monica and her foster dad nodded and Carol now just had to tell them but it was harder than she expected, "I think that coming here every month is maybe too much." She shrugged, looking at Gerald's reflection in the rear view mirror, "I'm really glad that Tony did what he did and gave me the opportunity to see my niece again but I think if I had been included in the process I wouldn't have chose to see you every month, because I have a new life and new obligations and you too have a new life, you're a teenager now, you must have a lot of things to do! And, I think that those short meetings would be too overwhelming, with the flight and all, I'm not sure it's be healthy for us." She said _us_ , talking about Natasha and herself, because she obviously wanted the redhead to come with her at all the trips.

Monica had listened to every single word carefully and answered fast, "Yeah, you're right Auntie Carol."

"You really think that?" Carol said with an over pitched tone, completely surprised the young girl took the news that good.

"Of course, we are busy women, I understand. And I don't want you to be in bad health!" Carol grinned at the girl's words, she was still the smart and comprehensive kid her best friend had raised. Then, she explained the plan she came up with. Just when they arrived to the airport she finished her speech and both the young girl and her dad agreed with the new visit schedule.

"Alright, that's our stop." Natasha said as she stepped out of the car and walked to the trunk to take hers and Carol's suitcase, Gerald followed her, leaving Carol and Monica alone in the car, "So I'll see you in two mon-" she couldn't finish her sentence, the girl jumping on her for a hug, cutting her in her breath.

She reluctantly pulled out of the embrace and took Carol's hands in hers, "See you in two month!" she said with the most joy she could put in her tone. Carol giggled at the sight of the grin on Monica's face and ran her thumb quickly on her cheek. They both left the car and joined Gerald and Natasha, the latter bent down, waiting for Monica to give her a goodbye hug, "You'll take good care of her, right?" the girl whispered in Nat's ear.

"Always!" she answered instantly, amazed by how Monica cared about Carol well-being. It had shocked the redhead how many times the girl had asked Carol how she was doing, knowing that her mother's death had been hard for the blonde, more than she would ever admit.

"See you in two month, Auntie Nat!" she said with a big smile and Natasha thought for a second her heart had stopped, she felt the tears coming up in her eyes and took the girl back in her arms for a few more second, giving herself time to put back her mask.

When she let go, Monica walked to Carol to hug her one last time and, after the couple shook Gerald hand to say goodbye, they walked towards the airport's entrance, hand in hand. Carol fought the urge to look back at her niece a few times and gave in eventually, with a quick glance behind her, she caught the sight of the small girl who waved at her. When she turned her head to look back in front of her she crossed the green eyed gaze and smiled, wrapping her arm around the redhead’s shoulders to pull her closer and kissed her hair line. "I love you."

"What's that for?"

"I don't know, I just wanted to say it."

Natasha chuckled discreetly, "I love you C."

They passed through security without a problem and finally found their seats in the plane. Only a few minutes after the takeoff Carol head had fell on Natasha's shoulder, the blonde was already sleeping, "You're lucky you're the most beautiful woman out there, Danvers. I would totally have woke you up if it wasn't the case!" the redhead said quietly, not willing to wake her girlfriend up. The flight was only three hours long but she knew Carol had trouble sleeping recently and needed those extra hours of sleep, otherwise she would totally have awoken her.

When they arrived at the John Fitzgerald Kennedy International Airport, Tony was there to pick them up, accompanied by Pepper, "How was it?" the business woman asked to the couple. Natasha looked at Carol, who had her heads in the clouds, remembering all that happened, "It was perfect, thanks again." Natasha squeezed Carol's hand gently and the blonde responded with a smile, tilting her head to look at her girlfriend.

Tony drove the four of them to a restaurant, he wanted to hear everything about the couple's weekend and Carol was happy to share all the details with him and his wife. Natasha let Carol do the talking, as usual, she would have a moment alone to tell Tony how was her weekend at some point. The part about the change of the visit schedule came into the discussion at the end of the main course and it surprised the Captain to hear about it but he did understand the blonde's reasons in the end. Tony obviously paid for Carol and Natasha. The redhead tried, in vain, to pay, reminding him Carol had said she owed him a dinner but he refused every time Natasha handed him her credit card.

Carol offered Pepper and Natasha's best friend a coffee when they reached their Manhattan flat but they had to say no, Rhodey was babysitting Morgan and had to be at work early the next day, Tony was surprised his friend hadn’t called him yet to ask what the hell they were doing.

The first thing Natasha did when they entered their flat was to go take a shower, Carol didn't even bothered to, she changed to her pyjamas and went directly to bed. Natasha joined an asleep Carol and let herself think about all the memories she had, the good with Monica, her foster parents and Carol, and also the bittersweet, especially the declined proposal. Eventually, she remembered she had to go to work in a few hours and decided to follow Carol's lead and fell asleep, her head on the blonde's chest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tell me your thoughts in the comments, i'd really love to know them, it might help me improve!
> 
> Thanks for reading.


End file.
